Brubeck

I had a close call. I almost worked late. Technically I did, a half hour, but I decided what I had left on my plate could wait until tomorrow.

Then, I flirted with disaster a second time when I was tempted to peel out of traffic and pop five bucks to see Burn After Reading a second time. Yes, it's that good. There's even a couple of movies showing that I haven't seen but would like to, but if I was going to put my ass in a theater seat this evening, it'd be for that.

But I went home. And right before I was about to tell Barley the Dogfaced Boy that we'd go for a walk, I decided to play my answering machine messages.

And a friend left a message that he had an extra ticket for Dave Brubeck tonight if I wanted it.

The time was 7:15. It was an 8:00 show downtown.

I got in my car and drove like hell. I dodged construction and almost made it before the show started. Blue Rondo Ala Turk was seeping from the auditorium as I collected my ticket at the Will Call.

I expected to go upstairs, but was told by the person who tore my ticket that I should go to yonder door and someone would help me to my seat.



The second usher advised me to wait for a break between songs, then led me to the seat next to my friend. End of the aisle in the center, five rows back from the stage.

The only people with better seats were in the band.

And what a band it is. All four had white hair: Bob Militello on alto and flute, Michael Moore (no relation to the obese pinko filmmaker) on bass and Randy Jones on drums, along with Brubeck who is all of 88 years old.

So instead of a movie, or the high comedy of a Vice Presidential Debate (which I caught a replay of on the way home) I heard a lot of great music. It's amazing to see someone who's been at it for over sixty years still having a blast, and that's exactly what Dave Brubeck is having.

In fact, the last song before the intermission, he delineated its roots through the Catholic church, the Roman Empire and all the way back to Palestine when it was conquered by Rome. The melody's recorded history terminates in an ancient Jewish chant. Brubeck said he played it because someone asked him to do some 'old' stuff.



And yeah, they closed with Take Five. A tune which I sometimes thing of as tired, but I think that is in relation to my own pitiful attempts to play it. These guys are still finding new things to do with it, and it still has an infectiousness.

Plus, I got some great perspective on politics. Which, you may know, I get overwrought about sometimes. Introducing Brandenburg Gate, Brubeck commented how it'd been on the radio in Berlin a lot before he played it there. Back when the Berlin Wall was going up.

So when Time Out was recorded, there was no Berlin Wall. And today, there is no Berlin Wall. And Dave Brubeck is still an awesome performer, and he penned more timeless compositions before that wall was finished than most musicians ever do. And in some ways, those compositions are more important than that wall could ever be.

After the first standing ovation, the band took to the stage and played a lullaby. And they found as much fun with it as with any of the other material. It takes great musicians to do this, but I guarantee you Dave Brubeck could take a Black Flag song or a Ludakris bit and make you maudlin with it if he was so inclined.

I love it when art transcends.